Once Upon A December
by skittles342
Summary: Ritsu was once the prince of a very respected kingdom, but that all changed when the crown was suddenly overturned to a darker force. Will he be able to take his kingdom back? And who is this Takano Masamune? Why does he want to help him when he's supposed to be capturing him?
1. Prologue

**A/N: I really shouldn't be starting on another story when I haven't even finished or updated my other ones XD;; but this idea has been in my head ALL month and I just had to try my hand in throwing it into a fanfiction. **

**Enjoy!**

**Pairing: Takano/Ritsu**

**Rating: T (for now)**

**Once Upon A December: Prologue**

In a land far away, there lived a kingdom.

It was called the Kingdom of Ediov. This kingdom was ruled by the royal family, the Onodera's. The royal family was good, and treated their villagers well. They always made sure to help everyone, even the poor. They never raised the taxes too high, and they made sure that everyone gets fed or helped out in some way.

The Onodera's have ruled this land for decades, they were loved by everyone. The king's name was Akito Onodera, his wife's name is Kiku Onodera. As soon as they were married, they had a child. A son.

A big celebration was held in honor when the child was born, his name was Ritsu Onodera. Prince to the Ediov kingdom. When he grew up, he would take over the throne in his father's place.

The boy grew healthily, though he was not as physical as the king expected him to be. He mostly sat at home and read books, he really enjoyed reading. He's very shy and soft spoken, but his good looks make up for that. His shiny dark brown hair and those glittering emerald eyes stole the hearts of maidens all over the country.

When he was sixteen, he was engaged to a women named Kohinta An. Even though he was resentful to this engagement, he had no choice but to marry her when he was seventeen. He treated her quite coldly, he hardly kept up a conversation with her, and he ignored her presence most of the time.

An, desperate to get her husband to love her, did anything to please him. But when it came to sex, forget about it. Ritsu refused to have sex with her on a daily basis, and when she asked why not, he would respond:

"Because I believe sex should be shared between two people that love each other."

Ritsu knew he was being unfair towards her, since it wasn't her fault that her parents forced her to marry him, but he still felt bitter over the whole marriage. Even though it wasn't his nor her fault, it was his controlling parents.

He wasn't happy, he didn't want to be king anytime soon, but he had no choice.

A couple years later, it was Christamas. So of course a big celebration was held in honor of it.

That's the night his whole life changed.

He was in the ballroom, dancing, laughing with a few good friends, and having a great time when the doors to the ballroom flew open. When he turned, he saw an evil looking man standing in front of a line of dark armored knights. His heart began to beat so fast that he felt as if he couldn't breathe.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" The man dressed in all black yelled, his brown eyes glittering.

Next thing Ritsu knew, people were being slaughtered. His father, his mother, An, they all died right before his eyes as they tried to escape. The royal guard tried their best to hold down the castle, keep the invaders out, but they couldn't. They were caught off guard and easily defeated.

"Run Ritsu!" His father yelled, blood spilling from the wound in his stomach, he coughed but blood onto the dirt floor, "As long as you live, there will be hope for Ediov!"

Ritsu had no choice, he kissed his dad's forehead in farewell and ran. He made it out the castle, taking a secret passageway only he knew about to escape. He made it out into the woods and ran his hardest to get the hell out of there.

The kingdom was overturned to a darker force, the new king's name was Haitani. He had reward out for whoever found Ritsu, and brought him to him, alive. So he sends out his best, most trustworthy and loyal knight, Takano Masamune, to find and bring him back to the castle.

The Fallen Prince was out and in hiding, plotting, waiting, to take his kingdom back.


	2. Chapter 1: They Meet

**A/N: Thank you to all the reviews that were left. And as for the whole 'this is based off Anastasia' thing, it's really not. I got the story idea from the song 'Safe and Sound' by Taylor Swift. Though I won't lie when I say that I did name the fic after the song name. Just to clear things up.**

**Now, to the story!**

**Pairing: Takano/Ritsu**

**Rating: T**

**Once Upon A December: They Meet**

Takano rode through the forest, clad in black armor, his horses' hooves making loud clomping sounds on the dirt path. His long hair waved and danced gracefully in the wind as he moved swiftly. He was tracking down this 'Onodera Ritsu' person. The rightful king to The Ediov kingdom, he wasn't supposed to kill him, but capture him. He didn't know why, wouldn't it be much easier to just kill him and not have to worry about it? Why was Haitani so obsessed with getting a hold of Ritsu?

He shrugged to himself, he doesn't make the orders, he just follows them.

He was heading to the village where Ritsu was last seen, maybe he could track his whereabouts from there.

It was already getting quite dark, the stars were glittering in the sky, the only light he had to light his path was the moon.

He sighed softly; he didn't want to do this. In fact, he never wanted to become Haitani's knight. He only became a knight because he was poor and had nothing else going for him except his ability to fight and hunt. This impressed Haitani and he immediately wanted Takano working for him, so Takano accepted.

He wished he hadn't.

Working for Haitani was hell. He's been forced to do much worse than capture a runaway prince. Things that he didn't want to even think about right now they were so horrible.

He got to the village and hopped off his black horse. He went around questioning the villagers. Some refused to tell him, others were vague in their answers. It was obvious that they still liked the Onodera's much more, even though there's only one left.

Once he was done questioning the whole village, the only information he got was that Ritsu was heading west. Oh so helpful. But he couldn't turn back now, he was given strict orders to come back with Ritsu or don't come back at all. And as wonderful as the second option sounded, he decided that is was wise to just choose the first.

Takano pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in frustration. He mounted his horse once again, his long sword bumping against his thigh, and took off, heading west. He just wanted to get this done and over with.

* * *

Ritsu was held up in an abandoned shack in the middle of the forest. He has never been so lost. He was supposed to be heading for the Sequador Mountains, to meet up with some of his followers, but he gotten lost on the way. The trip to the mountains was a three or four day trip, and he only made so little progress. Though he was a few hundred miles away from his old kingdom, which was good.

He sighed and tugged at his clothes, he borrowed some villager's clothes after what happened. He didn't want to be recognized as 'The Fallen Prince Ritsu' and ended up captured or killed. It was a simple peasant's long sleeved shirt and brown baggy pants with brown boots. It was the best he could do at this moment.

He bit his lip, he should keep moving. He grabbed his bow and arrows, slinging his arrows onto his back before slowly making his way out the shack. He closed the door behind him and took off into the night, the cold making him shiver softly. This will be a long journey indeed…

* * *

Takano pulled his horse to a stop as he heard the sounds of soft footsteps in the distance, heading away from here.

'_Found you.' _

* * *

Ritsu heard the thrumming of horseshoes against the earth as he ran. He stopped for a moment and gulped, getting that dreadful feeling in his bones as he scrambled up the nearest tree.

'_Uh- Oh…'_

* * *

Takano stopped when the sounds of footsteps halted. He glanced around and dismounted his horse, tying him to a tree before he traveled deeper into the forest. No sound escaped from said forest, only the sound of Takano's heart beating fast thrummed in his ears as he glanced around. He could've sworn he last heard the footsteps here…

Suddenly, a wooden arrow zoomed out from nowhere, striking the tree right next to Takano's face, even leaving a large scratch on his cheek. He cursed and rolled out the way of another arrow coming for him, where it came from? He still didn't see.

Gasping for air, a bit panicked that he couldn't see where the hell these arrows were coming from, he hid behind a tree and pulled out his long black sword.

He peeked cautiously around the tree, being as quiet as he could to see if he could spot where the arrows were coming from, and who was shooting at him. Though he had an idea…

Just as he leaned his head out a bit, an arrow whoosed straight for his face. He was able to pull back a bit, but the arrow caught his cheek again and left a deep scratch on his left cheek. He grunted in pain and growled out softly. How did he get himself in this situation?

* * *

Ritsu hissed softly in frustration as he pulled out another arrow, he kept missing his target. He could tell that the guy was obviously a black knight, judging by his armor and sword. Most likely sent out to kill him. Even if that wasn't the case, he was going to kill him before the male even knew that he was around. Better not to risk it.

He aimed at the tree the man was hiding behind, he couldn't stay there forever.

Suddenly, the man jumped out from behind the tree. Ritsu prepared to release the arrow but the man was faster. He threw his large black sword straight at him. Ritsu gasped and jumped out the way just in time, tumbling to the ground ungracefully and landing flat on his ass.

"Ow…" he rubbed his hurt ass and stood back up. He spun to face the solider, another arrow in his bow and his eyes narrowed at the dark knight standing before him, a smirk on the male's handsome features.

"Forgive me for my rudeness, your highness," Takano mock bowed, "But I'm afraid that I'll have to take you back to your beloved kingdom."

Ritsu shook his head, "It's not my kingdom anymore."

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Takano sighed and put his hands on his hips seeming bored and uncaring, "You can come with me without a fight, nice and easy. Or, I can drag you back. Your choice."

Ritsu pulled his arm back and released the arrow, hitting the dark haired male in his side. Causing him to grunt in pain as Ritsu turned and fled, running as fast as his legs could possibly take him.

Takano yanked the arrow out, growling in pain, "I guess it's gonna be the hard way then…" he grunted and pushed himself up, pursuing the prince deeper into the forest.

* * *

Ritsu wasn't very fast, and it was easy for Takano to catch up with him. He tripped the younger, sending him tumbling ungracefully through some dead leaves, landing flat on his face.

"Asshole!" Ritsu grunted and flipped over on his stomach, kicking the knight in the chest when he bent over to pick him up. He picked up the nearest branch and smacked him with it, sending him tumbling back. It gave him enough time to get back on his feet before the knight recovered.

He pulled out his sword from its sheath, seeming pissed as he swung the sword at Ritsu. Ritsu ducked and dodged his attacks, using the large branch to block his face and vital spots.

Takano grew impatient with this ridiculous fight as he kicked his in the gut, sending him sprawling. Ritsu grabbed the dagger that was hidden in his sleeve and threw it at him, catching him in the shoulder. Takano reached to yank it out, which gave him enough time to grab his bow and arrow and aim, before firing. Aiming for his chest.

Takano saw the oncoming arrow and rolled out the way in time, Reaching for his black sword once again.

They were both out of breath already, Takano sitting down and holding his sword, and Ritsu still laying on the ground and panting softly. They both didn't want to fight anymore, Takano mainly because he really didn't want to capture the prince.

"Were you sent to hunt me?" Ritsu asked between gulps of breath.

Takano shook his head, "I was sent to capture you, but honestly, I don't really want to."

They were silent for another moment.

Ritsu broke the silence, asking softly, "Why do you work for him?"

Takano didn't respond for a few moments before breathing out, "I had no choice."

Ritsu stayed quiet for another few minutes. Then an idea popped into his mind, "You have one now," he said as he stood, looking down at the knight, "Why don't you join me?"

"Join you?"

"Yes, I have a resistance group gathering at the Sequador mountains, nearly fifteen hundred men and women are there already," Ritsu told him, picking up his fallen dagger and putting it in his pocket, "Why don't you join us in the fight to take back my kingdom?"

Takano thought about it for a moment, "You mean… Kill Haitani and his dark knights?"

"Basically, yeah."

Takano smiled, "I'm in."


End file.
